17 Debates on Blog-o-sphere

Grace @ No.21Monday, June 3, 2013

Original topic/image from Google. Edited by me.

Last night I found a list of bunch areas that bloggers take different approaches in – yet there would be many many more. So I sorted and narrowed it down to 17 topics. Some of them are debates that might come down to a bloggers ethics,
although most are simply different approaches that might be based more
upon each bloggers goals, the niche that they are in. I thought it will be thought-provoking to bring up the topic to discuss and see others' opinion.

Post Frequency – Post More vs Post Less

: I don't try to post MORE or LESS, but at least I'm trying or would love to post something regularly. I love my blog and write posts on my little space so much. However few weeks ago I had so much pressure on the post frequencyand even I thought of closing my blog down.I always think those bloggers who writes their posts every day or two is just amazing - all their contents and review are very detailed and fun to read as well. On the other hand, I saw some fabulous bloggers who blog occasionally/sporadically but still, their contents are informative. So I think it's not the matter of how MANY posts you write every week to be an successful blogger. It's matter of how you write a post(detailed, informative, fun to read...)

How Many Blogs?– Focus upon One Single Blog vs Having Many Smaller Blogs

: I've seen some bloggers have more than one blog. In my opinion, I think it's better to focus on one single blog that is manageable. It's a great idea to have blogs for separate topics but eventually one blog will be out of your attention unless you are a full-time blogger :)

I like and tried to keep the domain name as short as possible. Just because it's easy to remember and can be typed quick. Yes, I'm lazy and I know it :p

Hosting– hosted vs self hosted

I find this topic as quite interesting. I really don't care much about hosted blog or self-hosted. I think the only difference between these two is ownership. It's like you are having your own space to decorate how you want compare to renting a room from somebody that you can't do much. I think that is the whole idea of self-hosting website. But as we can see and prove that hosted site like Blogspot/Wordpress is very editable on design-wise that we can change layout and stuff. So i'm good with hosted blog.

Post Titles – descriptive vs keywords

I'm more like a person who writes keywords for the post titles. I don't like my post titles to be lengthy and i can write descriptions in the contents, not on the titles.

Paid Reviews– To Write Paid Reviews vs Not Doing Paid Reviews

It depends. My opinion on this topic is that bloggers can write paid reviews but should not promise to the company or who ever offer them for a positive review just because of $$. Like, companies can pay you for to try their products or give you PR/samples but shouldn't force you to write a positive review. That's just not right.

Design – Professional Design vs Templates

I personally like well-organized or easy to read websites or blogs. However, it's more on what you are comfortable with. If you like simple, keep it simple and if you like well designed layout, go ahead or hire someone to do it for you if that's what you want. To be honest, I well understand the blog-envy and many people like to have their blog feels special and different because I feel like I want to blog more often when my blog designs are satisfied.- But, there's nothing wrong with free templates either.

Links to External Sources – Should Open in a New Page vs Should Open in the Same Page

I like the external sources to be open in a new page. I don't know why but that's just how i am.

Post Length– Long in Depth Posts vs Short, Sharp Posts

Mmm, I think this one is one of hard questions. I personally like long in depth posts but It's always hard to write one as myself. My only problem on writing a long in depth posts is that the English is just too tricky for me since Asian languages and Enlglish's form and stuffs are totally opposite and my lack of vocabulary and poor word choices. I'm really working on it and you will see a looooooooooooooong post in the future!

Topic– Niche vs Broad Topics

It's always good to start with your niche where you are really comfortable talking about and enjoy.However, If you have a variety of topics that you are really interested in and passionate, I don't see why not?

I definitely looove personal blogging. I have more fun and enjoy reading on blogs where the bloggers posts their personal issues or what's going on their life. I think It could be bored if you keep throwing same topic over and over. It's like you are only eating the bread. Sometimes you need a cup of milk,tea or coffee along with it and that's how the blog works :)

Comment Moderation– Highly Regulated and Moderated vs Anything Goes

Social Media vs Search– focus upon social media rather than search engines as traffic sources

Bloggers Participation in Comments – Respond to Every Single Comment vs Let Readers Talk to Each Other and Don’t Interact

10 comments
:

What a great post to read Grace. Your blog is among my absolute favourites, you offer everything I look for in a beauty blogger, which ironically is not just about beauty. I get easily bored when bloggers post review after review, I love diverse content, useful content. There's only so many reviews I can read about the same freaking product, right? LOL Just to comment on a few points you made here: I care more about content rather than frequency, comment moderation with captchas should be banned!, not replying to all comments is disrespectful, I don't care so much about affiliate links as much as I care about bloggers not clearly stating they got the stuff for free or if they're being paid, I agree that one blog is more than enough and one shouldn't chew more than one can handle ^^Sorry for the long comment but this is topic I'm so interested in, in fact I have a post in drafts about bloggers without ethics, will probably be up next week. Keep this amazing posts coming, we surely appreciate them darling <3 xx

aww thank you Lau. I totally agree with you. I see a lot of reviews and same products over and over. It's nice to see many people's opinion on one product but eventually it gets tired. Thank you for taking your time writing the comment. I really appreciate it! :)xxx

I have to say that this was a really interesting post. Sometimes people don't think about the topics you've mentioned and get lost not knowing what to do with their blogs (if that makes any sense).Content for me is important because if someone write only about food (for example) I get bored and stop reading their blog every day. I like variety =)

I loved this post Grace! I seem to agree with your every answer :D I post near enough everyday, and make sure I put 100% into every post. I don't post for the sake of posting which some bloggers very obviously do. If I feel a blog post I've written, isn't to the best of my ability I'd rather delete it than post it on my blog as I'm a bit of a perfectionist.

I love well designed blogs, with a good layout.. I can't stand messy layouts, or ones with the font so small an Ant couldn't read it.

I had a self hosted blog, and to be completely honest.. It was a lot more hassle than it's worth, so I'm glad to be back to having a hosted blog for the time being :D xxx

What a great and refreshing post. People don't realise that there are so many issues and debates behind blogging but II think that as long as you stay true to yourself then that is what matters.

I started off doing a beauty blog because that is what I enjoy reading, I then realised that I actually prefer putting up my desert recipes etc, so now I just write whatever I want. It's a good mix of beauty, food and general life stuff.

Interesting topics. I like bloggers who post regularly. It doesn't have to be everyday but at least a couple times a week. As far as content, I like clear and honest contents and good images. I like reviews that are as thorough as possible. I guess it doesn't matter too much how long the post is. What matters is that it contains the information that I need or else I bounce to the next blogger who has that info. I don't mind reading personal contents once in a while but if it gets to be too long or too frequent, I think that person should consider a personal blog for that purpose.My biggest pet peeves are bloggers who withhold information for whatever reason. Whether they're too lazy to type thorough reviews, received a free sample, are getting paid, or don't know what they are doing, it still annoys me. Secondly, I get annoyed when a blogger starts to sound like a sales person, trying to sell you everything or almost everything they feature on their blog.

I really like this post, so I have decided to follow you. Found you from The Beauty Milk.

I have pretty much debated all 17 of these issues myself. I find it hard to post everyday, especially when my posts are usually fairly long. It's just something I prefer. I don't really get bloggers that post one picture of the product and short sentence with something along the line of "it's good, get it". It's always nice to read something with a little bit of personality too.

I've pretty much had all of these debates myself... I once went to try out Wordpress to see whether I preferred it over there...but I couldn't stand it personally! I guess I'm just a Blogger girl! :)All I want from the blogs I read is for them to be honest! I couldn't care less about how much money they're earning or whether they're being sponsored, I would just like an honest and as unbiased opinion as possible!I also don't like it when bloggers just put photos and one or two lines of text that doesn't tell me anything! I like long posts! :DThanks for sharing this!I think one of the most important things in a blog is first impressions...which really comes down to blog design! I know my blog doesn't have amazing design...but yours blog layouts are my favourite out of all of my subscriptions! ♥